


Wind

by theamazingfrog



Series: Haldonia.tv [3]
Category: Haldonia
Genre: Beheading, Blood, Character Death, Murder, Nightmare, Original Character(s), Swearing, Violence, sword - Freeform, swordfight, the narrator is more than they seem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 12:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18498958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theamazingfrog/pseuds/theamazingfrog
Summary: ft. Amber Matthews and Relis Yemaillein which a heroine confronts her adversary and emerges victorious





	Wind

You open the throne room doors.

Before you lies the darkened throne room and with it the end of your adventure. At the other end of the throne room is a panoramic window looking out over Arxellon; it’s dusk, the streets are lighting up with twinkling streetlights and the grey sky is turning a deeper blue-gray. You can’t see the stars through the thick cloud, but as you walk closer you hear the rumble of a distant thunderstorm and see Relis sigh. Wind whistles through the throne room, ruffling your hair. A bittersweet air of finality fills the room. It really is the end of your journey, and everything your life has led up to for the last several months is suddenly coming to a head. You aren’t afraid.

You’re pretty close to the King now and your hand brushes over the handle of the sword at your waist.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Not until I have to, at least,” You hear Relis say. Until, not unless. “Come closer, I want to talk to you.” Is it a trap? You don’t get a chance to think properly before you decide to walk closer anyway. You’re armed, he’s not. His faithful magic-wielding disciple is gone, yours isn’t. You have the upper hand here. He beckons to you to come and stand next to him in front of the window. Broken glass crunches underfoot, almost unheard over the wind.

Relis sighs gently, a look covering his face that makes your chest hurt. He smiles softly, but it isn’t the same loving smile that Aganeem gives you, nor is it the malicious smile of a cat cornering a mouse. It’s a sad smile, one of a man who has nothing left to fight for and who doesn’t really want to do it anymore. A slightly louder rumble echoes around the sky. The storm must be getting closer.

“Jean used to hate thunderstorms.” He says quietly and tilts his head to one side. “The third or fourth night they were here, there was a huge one, loudest I’ve ever experienced. I found them crying in the wardrobe. I didn’t really know how to help them out, so I just went and sat in there with them. Didn’t say anything to them or anything, just sat in there and stroked their hair until they fell asleep. To this day I’m still not sure why I came to the decision that that was the thing to do.”

You aren’t really sure what to say to that. “Oh,” You mumble dumbly. Shouldn’t he be trying to kill you?

“It kind of became a thing. If there was a thunderstorm, we’d sit in Jean’s wardrobe. eventually they stopped being scared, and we kind of got excited when there was one. I remember one night we heard there was going to be one, so we got a load of blankets and pillows and came and sat in here to watch it. It was… really nice. I wish we’d done that more often.” He turns to look at you now. “I guess it’s kind of stupid, but I’m fighting the urge to go and sit in the wardrobe again. Doesn’t feel right to be here without them.” He laughs, but it’s forced and kind of pitiful. You’re not sure how to feel about this. Despite coming here with the express purpose of fighting King Relis, you seem to suddenly be having a conversation with him about his dead lover’s fear of thunderstorms. “No, no, this isn’t the time for this, is it? I shouldn’t be venting to you about Jean, it’s nothing to do with you. You’re not the one who killed them.”

You suddenly feel quite sick. Guilt suddenly fills your chest like a bag of rocks. Steeling yourself, you take a deep breath.

“Ah, well. You’re here for a reason, right? I can only assume you didn’t just come for a nice chat.” Relis continues.

“Yeah.”

“What’s your name?”

“Amber Matthews,” you answer.

“Amber, can I ask why you’re doing this?” He says, turning to face you fully now. You have a moment of doubt, wondering why are you doing this.

…no. Now is not the time to re-evaluate your life choices. You’re this far, you’ve been through a lot of shit to get here. Countless battles, injuries, losses, you’ve come so far and you’re not going to turn back now. You’re going to come out on top and be a hero. For Liam.

“Because I have to.” King Relis just laughs gently at this.

“But what put that idea into your head?” He gazes at you for a moment, and it feels like he’s looking right into your soul. “Amber, what were you like before you got mixed up in all this?” You’re a little surprised that he wants to know that. It’s okay, he probably just wants to figure out any weaknesses you have. Shrugging, you give the vaguest answer you can think of.

“You know, the standard. Went to school, had friends, whatever. I don’t really know.”

“Did you have any hobbies, anything you were really passionate about?” You have to take a moment to remember. You haven’t had any hobbies since everything started happening, you almost forgot it was possible.

“I mean, I guess I used to like sewing?” You shrug cooly. Relis is smiling and nodding pleasantly, little orange flecks of light reflecting off his eyes from the city below. He almost looks as if he already knew this, but he couldn’t have done. You can’t help but wonder when he’ll switch and throw you out of the broken window.

“So what made you go from that to murder?” The question catches you off-guard. Unsure how to answer it, you ignore him and stare out of the window. Relis turns to face forward again and fondly regards the city below. There are a few beats of comfortable silence. You find yourself wishing you could have been friends, and perhaps you could have done if things had gone differently.

Rain begins to pour from the sky and the city lights dim a little. Thunder rumbles, directly above you now. King Relis closes his eyes and sighs.

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you Amber, and I truly mean that.” Holding out a hand for you to shake, he smiles at you and speaks softly and sincerely. That’s it. You aren’t going to wait for this any longer, he’s just stalling at this point.

Lightning flashes and is followed instantly by thunder, it illuminates Relis’ face for a split second and he doesn’t look angry or sad or frightened or anything, just calm and world-weary as he watches you. You take a moment to ponder the fact that something about him reminds you of a past you never had in this timeline, but maybe another version of you was closer to him. He puts his hand down.

Relis walks over to the faded throne and picks up the golden sword from on its plush seat. Taking out your own blade, you adopt a fighting stance. His eyes are no longer warm but cold and unfeeling, his fists clenched and his scarred face only barely illuminated. Something has changed. The thunder crashes outside and rain pelts against the window and the wind howls and it’s all suddenly a little bit overwhelming, this is it and you might actually die, you’re suddenly paralysed with fear or maybe something else. He lunges towards you with his sword aimed directly at your throat and your arm swings without your permission and suddenly his blade clatters to the ground along with his hand, and his face, his face looks devastated and you’re suddenly hit by the sensation that you’ve done something terrible but it’s too late, your sword is moving again and it’s as if your arm is no longer attached to your body but being controlled by puppet strings and suddenly King Relis Yemaille’s head falls to the floor with a dull thud and his body falls the other way.

What have you done? _What the fuck have you done?! _You think you’re going to be sick. Sickly silvery blood pumps out of Relis’ neck and onto the beautiful marble floor and your arm is covered in the same stuff. The pungent metallic smell is all you can smell now and the sound of the thunderstorm is too much and the room is spinning around you, lurching back and forth dizzyingly as the wind sways you. Lightning flashes and you see Relis’ corpse laying on the floor and his shocked face lying a little way away and you’re actually sick all over the ground and you take a step backwards and a little voice in the back of your head reminds you of the broken window and the city below but there’s no ground underneath you anymore and the last thing you see is Arxellon above you as you plummet towards the streets below.__

__

__

__

__

___Let’s try that again. ____ _

**Author's Note:**

> i just want to say that this isn’t how this scene was meant to go; i planned on a nice fluffy dialogue where maybe relis and amber become friends but nooo. i was more than a bit surprised that amber was implied to have killed jean but then from that point the scene wrote itself. it was a bit upsetting, to say the least. btw sorry if that end bit was hard to read, but i was going for that sorta ‘everything’s piling on top of everything and it’s really overwhelming’ thing. well. ‘i’. the narrator was, at least. my hands were. anyway.
> 
> this bit is chronologically right at the very end of amber’s story, which is the main stolen city story. i wouldn’t say this is where she or relis are finished, though. more like they’ve accidentally snapped the tip off of their iceberg. or maybe someone else snapped it off for them. regardless of who snapped what, they’ve got a long way to go before they can part ways.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> I'd watch out for the narrator if I were you.


End file.
